Toward the end of his active duty career in the U.S. Air Force, North Carolina A&T State University graduate Ted Wood came up with three plans for life after the Air Force.

“Plan A was to run my own business. Plan B was to work for a defense contractor and plan C was to go to law school,” Wood said.

His business did not work out and he lost interest in being a defense contractor. Law school was the next thing on the list. He enrolled at the University of Dayton and never looked back. Nearly 15 years after graduating from law school, Wood has been named to the LMG Life Sciences CleanTech 100 list of top legal practitioners in clean technology.

LMG Life Sciences is a subsidiary of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.

“This is a great distinction. When I look at the list of the other selectees, a lot of them are from some of the largest firms in the country,” Wood said. “I’m from an 11-attorney law firm that is woman-owned, minority-owned.”

Wood was chosen primarily for his work in smart grid, an electrical grid that uses information and technology. He said he was working when he found out about the award and says that the award is proof that the work he started three years ago is what he’s supposed to be doing.

“This area is a subspecialty I created while working for my previous law firm,” he said. “The award validates that I’m on the right track.”

A 1981 graduate, Wood credits his former professor and A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. with helping him find his way in his career and with the responsibility he feels to mentor young professionals.

“I can remember on some occasions, Dr. Martin would close the classroom door and have frank and honest conversations with us,” Wood said. “I’ve told him several times that I appreciated his remarks because they were so real. I have since shared the same admonition with other young men.”

His strong sense of responsibility to mentor young professionals leads him to travel to A&T and to the University of Dayton on a regular basis to offer advice and council to aspiring engineers and attorneys.

“We all have an obligation to reach back and avail ourselves to others. The more successful we become or are perceived to be, the greater the obligation,” Wood said. “I have the attitude that if I can get here, wherever that is, then anyone sitting where I sat as a student can get here too.”